There have been no face-to-face confrontations between the Cameroon army and the Boko Haram terrorist group since January 2020.
Edouard Kaldapa, the Permanent Secretary of the Catholic Relief Services (CARITAS) in the Maroua-Mokolo Catholic diocese said: “only cowardly attacks against soft targets such as civilians have been on the rise in the Far North Region since the beginning of this year”.
“Since practically the beginning of the year 2020, we have been witnessing regular attacks by elements of the Boko Haram Islamic sect which have forced most households to abandon their houses and run away,” Kaldapa said.
He maintained that attacks against the military or military targets have reduced in intensity.
“On the other hand, it is nightly attacks of households and villages that have increased. It is practically everyday that we witness these attacks on families thus creating a continued displacement of persons,” the CARITAS official declared.
It should be noted here that populations in localities on the border with Nigeria are the most exposed to Boko Haram attacks where more than half a million persons have fled from their homes.
According to Edouard Kaldapa, more than 550,000 persons have fled from their homes, “100,000 of whom have taken refuge in Nigeria while the rest are internally displaced persons in Cameroon”.
“We call on the international community to be a bit more attentive, even though this international community only gives attention to more spectacular attacks such as suicide bombings, whereas everyday, people are living under precarious conditions and in fear and they are not supported,” he said.
“We, therefore, sound an alarm so that people have it in their heads that the Boko Haram terrorism in the Extreme North of Cameroon has not ended,”, the CARITAS official added.
The Maroua-Mokolo diocese of the Catholic Church covers three divisions in the Far North Region of Cameroon, namely Mayo-Sava, Mayo-Sanaga and Diamare.
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